It's A Small Wasteland
by Eveplox
Summary: Just when you thought you would never find somebody who's been through the same. F!Courier/Boone
1. Highway Blues

_Friday August 28__th__, 2281 – 8:55 pm, Novac  
_

Boone took a final drag from his cigar and slung his rifle on his back, crushing the cigar butt in the ashtray. His shift was about to start, another night of scoping from the gaping mouth of a big, dirty dinosaur. He sighed and opened the door, stepped outside and kicked it closed behind him before he made his way over to the green monstrosity.

Manny made his way down the stairs, and without even the exchange of a glance the two passed each other. Neither one could remember when the last time was they spoke, but both remembered the words that had been said. Boone entered the gift shop, past its counter and went up the stairs, to his nest. He looked out over the Mojave through the artificial teeth of the creature and sighed, knowing that it would just be as other nights – fire a single shot at a cactus, and spend the rest of the night trying not to think too much. He had to stay sharp, in case something _would_ happen – that's what he told himself every night, and it hadn't been convincing since his third shift. He took the rifle from his back and raised it to eyelevel, scoping the desolate wasteland like he had so many, many nights before.

As he scoped the same highway for a thousandth time that evening, his thoughts began to wander off. He looked at the old, broken and destroyed highway and thought. Thought of why nobody came walking down that goddamn road, if not to shoot at least to look at. Or make a welcome change in the horribly unilateral landscape he had been looking at for at least an hour now. Every day and night seemed to be the same nowadays, and even if he wouldn't take pleasure in killing usually, he was glad when he'd finally get to shoot if even a radscorpion that'd gotten too close to the town. He sighed again and continued on scoping, stretching his already sore back. He cracked his knuckles and popped his neck, trying to keep his muscles from going stiff. He went back to scoping, and caught sight of what seemed to be a molerat in the distance, but he realized it was just a weirdly shaped rock.

It didn't take long for him to be drowned in thoughts again, of how horribly monotone his days had gotten ever since she had been taken from him. With her, every night was different, not to mention that he had something to come home to – even if it was a motel room he lived in. His fingers tightened around the rifle at the thought of her. Why hadn't they massacred the entire town? There was only one man on guard, and eight unarmed civilians that would make easy targets for slavery. But no, they took only her and nobody had seen it, it had been organized. He knew it had to be so.

The sharp crackle of a rifle was what shook him from his thoughts, followed by vicious barking. His scope followed the half-mechanical dog that was running towards its former target, the rock that had been a molerat after all. Goddamn it. The dog, who's body consisted out of three mechanical legs, a glowing brain-case and a metal torso, had already lost interest in the molerat, and ran back to his owner. Boone's scope was back at the old highway, finding a woman there, with sunglasses that covered half her face. He squinted to get a better look at her weapon, a sniper rifle. He raised his eyebrows in the knowledge that of all rifles, those were just about the most expensive of all. In this darkness it was hard to get a clear look at her, but he could swear he'd seen her before, and not too long ago. When she walked into town he shrugged it off, figuring that she was probably just another merchant that frequented the town.

Many hours later his shift was finally nearing its end, as he rubbed his eyes behind his sunglasses. He stretched again and heard the door click behind him.

_Goddammit Manny, can't you at least wait 'till I'm gone?_

But what he saw was not Manny, much to his relief, but the woman he'd seen a couple of hours back. Eyebrows raised behind her sunglasses, she stepped into the nest, the dog following behind her, which started growling at him immediately.

"Rex, down."

He frowned and got a better look at her then; Tall, not a day over 27 at most, brown, short and messy hair on her head. Tan skin, which was not a surprise for those that traveled the wasteland. What did surprise him was her jacket, the white shirt underneath and the jeans she wore. He'd seen an outfit like that before… he was snapped out of his thoughts when she began talking.

"Lookin' for Manny Vargas, you seen him?" she asked in simple, practical tone. "'cause I got some news on those ghouls from repconn for 'im." Her voice was not a soft, feminine one. It was a little rough, although not unfriendly.

"You really shouldn't sneak up on me like that." He huffed, slinging his rifle onto his back. "I could kill you."

A smile crossed her lips. "Thanks for the heads up." She folded her arms over her chest and repeated her question; "You seen Manny Vargas?"

"No, I haven't. I work nights, he works days."

She gave a single nod. "That makes you Boone, then. Suppose you don't have a job for me?"

Boone frowned, unsure of how to respond. "You're not from around here. I need someone I can trust, so it's a start."

"So you _do_ have a job for me. Aces. What's it concern?" she rubbed her hands together, as if she was excited already.

"I want you to find something for me. I don't know if there is anything to find, but I need someone to try. Someone who isn't connected to this town."

"What am I looking for and why am I looking for it?" she asked, wanting to get to the point already.

"My wife was taken by legion slavers while I was on watch one night. They knew exactly where to go, how to do it and they only took Carla. It was planned, and I want to know who was the son of a bitch who did it." His tone was rough, but cold, not a trace of true emotion to be found.

The woman grit her teeth for a few seconds, the muscles on her jaw clenching. "Legion slavers…" she muttered. "No problem."

Boone was the slightest bit surprised when she accepted just like that, but figured she hated the Legion just as much as he did. "We won't speak again. Not until this is over." He took his beret off and gave it to her. "Take the convict to the front of the dinosaur, and put on my beret. That's my signal to shoot."

The woman nodded and stuffed the beret in her pocket. "See ya." And she left, just like that. The dog shot him a final glance, before following his owner down the stairs. Boone stood there for a few more minutes, waiting until he was sure he could make his leave.

* * *

The courier stared at the beret in her hand, huffing. "Well what do you know… " she mumbled to herself. She sat down by the old gas station and grabbed herself a bottle of Sunset Sarsaparilla as she began to think. Who could be possible convicts?

The McBride's were definitely innocent, those two were too old and too uninvolved to have done such a thing, Daisy Whitman was the same story.

The ranger was former NCR, no way he'd get involved with the legion like this.

No-Bark was crazy, and too old to be involved. He could be a useful source of information, however, so she figured.

This left Cliff Broscoe and Jeannie May as possible convicts, she thought. She drank the last of her Sunset, checking the bottle cap for a star. She sighed when she didn't see one, putting the bottle cap in her pocket. She got up again and thought of what to do. Jeannie May being the big boss in town would be make her a logical convict to the case, whereas Cliff was merely a gift shop owner. The courier made her way to the Dino Dee-lite front desk, which she found empty, to her surprise. Lucky her, it gave her time to investigate.

She checked the cabinets on the left, only to find all of them completely empty. She snatched a super stimpak from the First Aid box, and continued her investigation. Checking each and every book for maybe a scrap of paper or something, she still couldn't find anything. She went behind the counter, looking at each individual paper and finance clipboard in the hopes of finding something, but no. She turned around and checked each and every single drawer of the second filing cabinet, but no dice. Rex had been sitting in a corner the entire time, not quite getting why his master wouldn't just look down between her feet to that big, square thingy.

When the Courier noticed his looking, she raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Rex? You seen anything helpful?"

He gazed down and gave a soft whine, before he looked up at her again, panting. The courier looked down at her feet and saw the floor-safe built there. "… Oh." She shook her head and kneeled down to inspect the lock. "You have two cabinets to hide it behind but you build it right in the middle of the floor for everyone to see… Seriously, what the fuck…" she muttered to herself, taking a bobby pin from her pocket. She picked the lock and opened the safe, so very very pleased to find a bunch of bottle caps in there, along with pre-war money and… papers?

Frowning, she took off her sunglasses to get a better look at what it said. She read it to herself out loud, although quietly. "…exclusive rights to ownership and sale of the slave Carla Boone for the sum of one thousand bottle caps, and those of her unborn child for the sum of five hundred bottle caps…"

She was silent for a little while after that, stuffing the papers in her pocket. "God-fucking-dammit…" she said to herself. "Goddammit…" she sighed and kicked the safe closed, turning around. "C'mon Rexie… let's see if we can get ourselves a little breakfast…"

Rex followed her out of the office and back outside, where she put her sunglasses back on. She couldn't help but think of what she'd just read. _'Unborn child'…_ She shuddered and tried to shake it off, trying not to think about what could've happened if the Legion had found her too that day. A chuckle escaped her as she went to sit down on the Dino's tail, her hand stroking Rex' ear. "You'd never think you'd meet someone out in the Wasteland who's been through the same, would you, Rexie?" she said to the dog, who cocked its head her. "You would know, with Rey's brain and all…" she smiled down at the dog and sighed. "At least he'll have his revenge, right?"

And she hoped he would, because for the six and a half years she had been traveling the wasteland, she still hadn't gotten hers. And with the recent bullet to the head, it only added to her to-do list.


	2. Everybody do the dinosaur

_A/N: I was a bit shocked when I found my mailbox flooded with alerts and faves this morning, thank you guys so much! Next chapter will have more action, I promise ;)_

_

* * *

Saturday August 29th, 2281 – 11:27 pm, Novac  
_

Boone shifted from one foot to another, trying to guess what time it was. After many nights up in Dinky's mouth, he'd learned to estimate time pretty well by looking at the moon. This time around, however, the sky was clouded and the only way he could guess where the moon was located – or Earth, for that matter – was by trying to figure out which faint shimmer of light was the moon. He hated slow nights like these the most, having to wait for something important to happen. Had the woman bailed on him after all? He grunted at the mere thought, trying to stay focused on the wasteland before him.

"_C'mon Rexie, just lie down right over there…"_

Boone recognized the woman's voice, lowering his rifle to see what she was doing. The dog had lain down on the pile of rocks in front of the dinosaur, almost on the exact spot at which Boone's victim was likely to meet his end.

"_Alright, now jus' bark and whine real loud… think you can do that, Rexie?"_

Rex started barking and whining like he had just been shot in the head and his brain was falling out of its case. Boone raised both of his eyebrows, trying to figure out the woman's tactics for this one – because it wasn't exactly contributing to a 'silent kill'.

* * *

The courier grinned when Rex did exactly as she had told him to. Damn, that dog was smarter than some of the humans she had met out on the wasteland. She made a run for the Dino dee-lite front desk, practically breaking through the door.

"Please help me!" she said in a dramatic tone, rapid gasps accentuating her faked panic. "My dog's been shot, you gotta help him!"

Jeannie May looked up from her papers and slapped a hand against her mouth. "Oh my! Where is he?"

The courier pointed outside. "In front of that dinosaur, I think your sniper may have mistaken 'im for a Legion mongrel or somethin'!" she ran outside then, a very startled and confused Jeannie May Crawford behind her. When the two reached the dog which seemed to be writhing in pain, they both kneeled down to get a better look at him.

"Where's he been hit?" asked Jeannie, lowering her glasses to see clearer. The courier backed away and put the beret on her head. "I don't know! He just dropped all of a sudden!"

Jeannie May couldn't raise her head to comment on her statement, as it had just been blown off. Little bits of Jeannie May were everywhere, and the courier wondered what the hell kind of a caliber the sharpshooter had in his hunting rifle. It didn't matter though, as she kneeled down to scratch Rex behind his ear. The courier caught her breath and smiled down at Rex, who was wagging his tail and barking at her, practically asking her if he'd done a good job.

"Who's a good dog?" cooed the Courier to the dog, patting its head. "You are!" Rex gave a couple of happy barks, before the courier got up and whistled for him to follow her as they walked back to the dinosaur.

* * *

Boone saw the woman run back to the dog, Jeannie May Crawford behind her.

_Crawford?_

He raised his rifle and looked through his scope, saw the woman crawl away and get up as she put on his beret. Boone's finger twitched at the trigger of his rifle. _Carla… _He pulled the trigger forcefully, the bullet piercing the Crawford woman's head, bits and pieces flying around. She dropped to the ground with a nauseating 'thud' and 'splash' as he lowered his rifle again. He watched the woman who had helped him get up, and stare at Crawford's head – or rather what was left of it, a disturbing expression on her face. Boone saw her kneel down, and scratch the dog's ear as she rewarded him in an endearing voice. He couldn't help but feel a little bemused, watching her smile and giggle like that. A woman guilty of slavery had just gotten her brains splattered over the ground, and there she was laughing and kneeling right beside a pool of said woman's blood.

A mere minute later he heard the door click behind him, the thuds of boots and finally silence as the door fell closed. He kept her back to her as he stared down at the pool of red.

"That's it… How did you know?" was the first question he asked.

"Bit of a hunch." Replied the woman. "Seemed logical, though. The big boss in town and the only one with possible connections outside a' town. Not t'mention the big fat safe in her floor." The cracking of paper behind him was what finally got him to turn around, and found her holding out a form.

"Found this in it. 's the bill of sale." She said, although softer, a soft hint of sympathy in her voice. "It ain't clear on your wife's location…"

Boone kept it in his hands even after he'd finished reading. _'your wife's location…'_

"Carla's dead." He said as he ripped the paper to a thousand pieces. "And so is the bitch who did this to her."

Rex looked up at his owner, who stood leaning against the door. She looked up at the sharpshooter and opened her mouth to say something, but kept herself from doing so at the last second. She took the beret from her head and gave it back to Boone. "Here."

Boone put his beret back on and reached into his pocket, pulling out a jingling pouch filled with bottle caps. "This is all I can give." He said, holding it out in front of him for her to take, but she refused. "I think our dealings are done here."

"Keep it." She said, not moving an inch from her spot. She waited for him to put it back in his pocket before she continued talking. "What are you gonna do now?"

"I don't know. I won't be staying, I know that. Don't see point in anything but hunting legionaries now. Or maybe I'll wander, like you."

"Come with me."

He was silent for a moment, awaiting further explanation. "You don't wanna do that." He said finally as he straightened himself.

"I have a score to settle with the legion as well. Answers to find, hell, maybe not even just answers." She remained silent for a few seconds. "We'll kill the fuckers together, and a lot more than either one of us could on our own."

"Yeah, that might be true." he couldn't help but agree that much. "And that's reason enough I'll take you up on it, I suppose. But this isn't gonna end well." His rifle on his back, he awaited her answer.

* * *

"But this isn't gonna end well."

She stared at the wooden floor beneath her feet, contemplating what he'd said. She chuckled and stood straight, holding her hand out for him to shake. "Believe I haven't introduced myself properly yet, and you might wanna know my name when we kill legionaries together. They call me Martin." She said, still waiting for him to shake her hand. She was goddamn persistent, and maybe a little bit amused by his reluctance to it. A minute later her arm was starting to get a cramp, and she wiggled it a bit. "C'mon, just do it and we'll leave this hellhole."

Boone huffed and shook her hand, a firm handshake. "Fine, let's get out of here."

She smiled at him and opened the door, patting her leg so that Rex would follow. In the gift shop, she snatched one of the Dino souvenirs and stuffed it in her bag.

They left Dinky the goddamn Dinosaur, and she stood still in front of the motel. "You have a room here, right? If there's anythin' you wanna grab real quick before we leave, you gotta do it now. 'cause I ain't planning on coming back here, ever." Boone shook his head, and she shrugged. "Fine by me." And they walked straight out of Novac.

"There's an empty Viper's encampment just down the road." She said as she looked over her shoulder, pointing in the approximate direction of the camp. "We'll rest there for the night, and tomorrow we'll wipe out the Legion raider's camp a mile or three south from here."

They walked on for another minute or two before they reached the abandoned Viper camp. She sat down in front of the old, broken down shack. "You go sleep, I'll stay on watch for tonight."

Boone put his rifle next to the mat and sat down, taking off his sunglasses. He rubbed in his tired eyes and lay down, arm under his head for support. His eyes fell closed, trying to get the rest he would need for the next day.

"G'night, Boone." Were the last soft spoken words he heard before drifting off in careless slumber.


	3. Boom, headshot

_A/N: You guys, your favs, alerts and reviews make me happier than an NCR in a nuclear winter! 3 ... That joke was f*cking terrible, enjoy the next chapter. Chapter 4 is on its way._

* * *

_Sunday August 30th, 2281 - 11:43 am, Highway 95 Viper's Encampment_

Boone awoke that morning to the sight of his companion's back, covered only by a wifebeater and whatever may've been underneath it. The black King's jacket lay beside her, along with a few other articles of clothing. He sat up and stretched, loosening his stiff and numb muscles. He remained silent and observed his companion for a moment, who sat in front of a fire, staring into a steaming pan. She was still wearing the sunglasses that practically covered half of her face, not that it surprised him at all, he wasn't one to take off his beret either.

Boone got up and put on his own sunglasses as he sat by the fire as well. Martin looked up at him for a second, watching him sit down.

"Morning sunshine. Had a good sleep?"

Boone shrugged and leaned forward to see what was in the pan at all. Some sort of stew, probably mole rat meat. Had she seriously bothered with a decent – as far as that went – breakfast? He cast her another glance, noticing a good couple of scars on both of her arms. He figured she'd gotten in a few nasty gunfights in which she'd been outnumbered and taken a couple of bad hits. He looked around to see if there had been any enemies around during the night, but found the camp exactly the same as the night before.

He snapped out of his thoughts when a spoon hit his leg, a little too close to his private area. He grunted and looked up at her with a frown on his face, which more or less disappeared when he found her holding out a bowl of stew.

"Eat it." She said. "You'll need the energy later on, there's about fifteen legionaries at the camp up ahead, along with two captured Powder Gangers." She proceeded to eat her own stew in silence, occasionally tossing Rex a piece of meat.

Boone nodded and ate his stew, looking to his right to check what the other clothing had been. Next to her King's jacket lay a complete suit of one sleeved reinforced leather armor. Wait, how had she been carrying that all the time? No, never mind, that was not important right now. He continued eating his stew, occasionally casting her a glance from behind his sunglasses. When he was done, he put the bowl down next to him and waited for her to finish as well. When she did, she got up and grabbed her clothes, standing behind the shack's 'wall', for all intents and purposes.

"'scuse me while I change." She said as sounds of straps and buckles were heard. She checked if she'd forgotten anything, then came back out to sit down next to him. "Alright, the shortest route to the camp is straight over the hills… we might wanna follow the road first, seein' as Rex ain't the best rock climber." She chuckled to herself and pressed a different button on her pip-boy. "Make sure you don't hit those Powder Gangers, 's one of my orders to free 'em."

Boone nodded, wondering who gave her those orders to begin with, and was reminded of something, taking out the same 1st Recon beret as he wore himself. "Here, I forgot to give this to you yesterday." He said, handing it over to her. She stared at it for a moment, raised her eyebrows and put it on.

"Thank you. Any reason why you keep two of 'em? Just curious." She said, looking up from her pip-boy for a second. "Since you don't seem to take that thing off."

Boone shrugged and reached for the bottle of purified water that was standing near an ammo box and drank from it while he tried to think of an answer. "I just do." He said finally, tossing the empty bottle aside.

Martin seemed to take this as a valid reason and shrugged as she turned off her pip-boy. "Ready to leave?"

_

* * *

Why would he have two berets? Maybe one of them belonged to his wife…_ she thought to herself, pressing the off-button on her pip-boy. "Ready to leave?" she asked him as she took her sniper rifle in hand. "Let's give those fuckers a what for." A wide grin spread across her face as she whistled between her teeth, Rex getting up and wagging his tail. Clearly, he couldn't wait for action either.

When they were about 200 feet away from the camp she stopped and kneeled down. "Okay, listen up… I'm gonna sneak around the hill and get behind that rock-formation on the west side of their camp. You stay on the north side, hidden just far enough up the hill so that they can't see you from their position. When I fire the first shot, and hopefully get a one hit kill, you shoot the fucker nearest to mine, got it? We'll pick 'em off 'till they spot us, when they do, I'm sendin' in Rex."

Boone nodded and they split up, Rex following his owner as quiet as possible. She sneaked around the camp, trying as hard as possible to keep from being spotted. When she finally reached her spot, she checked through her scope to see if Boone was in position as well. To her satisfaction, he was. She kneeled down pressed her hand against Rex' back so that he would lie down beside her. "Quiet now, Rexie…" she whispered, raising her rifle to eyelevel and aiming at the most far away bastard within her sights.

_Steady…_

She pulled the trigger, and much to her expectation went right through the Decanus' head. Not even half a second later a shot was heard from the other side of the hill, and the recruit a mere three feet away from her own target got a bullet to his chest. Five out of twelve legionaries had seen it happen, and the rest was wondering where the shots had come from. All of them had their weapons drawn, walking around the encampment to find the shooter. She raised her rifle again and picked off another one who was coming too close. Boone shot the one walking a few feet behind him. However, one of the recruit legionaries had spotted Rex, and Martin with it. As soon as the first bullet was fired, she nudged Rex.

"Go, boy, GO!" she hissed, raising her rifle again as a full blown gun battle began. Rex charged forward, barking and growling as loud and angry as he could, teeth bare. The courier didn't know whether or not they had spotted Boone, but was fairly sure he could take care of himself. She shot a legion in his leg, disabling him just for long enough so that Rex could rip his head off. Ever since he'd gotten Rey's brain, he didn't seem to care anymore about how he killed his targets – as long as they were killed, making him a very efficient guard dog.

Martin made sure the legions stayed away from her hiding spot, picking them off one by one for either Rex or Boone to finish. There were only two left, and she had to leave her spot in order to shoot them. She checked if her area was clear, then made a run for it to the backside of the tent. She swallowed thickly, the thrill of battle was never less than the last. She peeked out and found the legionary by the other tent, trying to get Rex away from the last of his companions. She shot his ankle, to which he fell to the ground. She had to reload, hidden behind the tent whilst the legionary spray-fired in her direction. A few bullets ripped right through the tent, missing her by a hair, and one bullet hit her shoulder. She winced but didn't stop, cocking her gun and making quick work of the last legionary.

She slung her rifle on her back and held her shoulder, inspecting damage. There was no exit wound, luckily, but it still stung like a bitch. Rex ran towards her, a recruit's helmet in his mouth. He waggled his tail and barked up at her, glad he could bring her such an amazing trophy of his work. Martin couldn't help but snort and laugh, letting go of her shoulder to scratch behind his ear. She walked over to the Powder Gangers still tied up by the campfire, cutting them loose with a simple switchblade. She let them both go, and turned around to go and find Boone. He had just reloaded his rifle when she came walking up the hill, holding her left shoulder.

"You hurt?" was the first thing she asked him. "Didn't see you, did they?"

"No, I'm not, and they didn't." he said, getting up and looking at the camp. "They won't bother anyone around these parts anymore."

"They sure won't." she nodded and checked her shoulder, gritting her teeth. "Well that sucks. Anyway, let's move on, 'ey? I gotta make a pit stop in Nipton, and then we'll just head for the Mojave outpost to rest for the night."

Boone nodded at her shoulder first. "Shouldn't you take care of that first?"

"Just a fleshwound."


	4. Talk to me

_Sunday August 30th, 2281 __– 17:55, Nipton General Store_

"What is it THIS time?"

The courier's hand twitched in need of punching Boxcars straight in the face, but she kept a straight face. "I went ahead 'n took care a' that slave camp." She said, one hand on her hip.

"Ohh, wanna know what I would've been real fucking excited about? If you would've come here and saved _me_ before they smashed my legs!" barked Boxcars. "Why don't you fuck off and let me sleep, hero? That'd be real exciting, too."

Martin laughed and nodded. "Sure! Let me help you along." And she just pistol whipped him in the head with her revolver. He fell down his chair, hopefully just unconscious and with a hell of a migraine when he'd wake up. She flipped him off with both her hands and looked over to Boone, holstering her gun.

"… What? He was being an asshole." She huffed and took two Med-x from her pack, injecting his legs. "It'll keep him from dying from the pain in his legs… but that's all I'm doin' for 'em." The courier got up and turned around, holding the door for Rex and walking out behind him, Boone following her. Hands stuffed in her pockets she walked on, nose wrinkled at the sight of Nipton. "Goddamn legion…" she muttered, watching smoke arise from piles of tires and barrels. "Won't leave anybody alone."

She looked over to Boone to try and see if there was anything of a reaction, but there was none.

"I don't get it, anyway." She continued. "But there's no point in thinking about it, I guess. As long as I get to shoot each and every one of them, I'm good. Call it a philosophy, but I'll shoot one for each slave they take, and maybe a few more for every innocent they murder. And Caesar himself…" she huffed and grinned. "His head will be the trophy on my bedroom wall."

She glanced his way again, hoping to have sparked at least a reaction. He was still walking beside her silently, to her disappointment. Up until now, each and every try to start a conversation had failed miserably, but at least he seemed to listen.

"And you?" finally, his head at least turned her way. "Any thoughts on the Legion?" A relentlessly stupid question on her part, but that wasn't important.

"Yeah. All about ways to kill 'em." He replied, his voice cold and harsh, much to her expectation. They walked down the road, towards the Mojave outpost, as she gave talking to him yet another try.

"I don't know what it is about the NCR that I dislike so much." She said. "It's not that I hate them or anything, and I'll help 'em out if they need me to, but I could never join them. I'd be bound to a camp, to rules and regulations, all that kind of stuff. I couldn't do that." She sighed and raised her eyebrows behind her sunglasses.

"But I guess it gives people something to do, something to stand for. 's kind of hard in a wasteland like this, no? With the legion around, standin' for yourself is pretty much impossible."

She kicked a rock in the sand and stared up the hill they were going to have to climb in a few minutes. "Why'd you become a sniper?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.

"I was good enough at the firing range, so they trained me to." He answered.

"No childhood interest in guns? Nothin' like that?"

"No. I joined the NCR because I thought they were right – I still do."

"Then why'd you leave?"

Boone's jaw clenched, and he remained silent for a while. "It was time for me to go." He said then, a certain hint of bitterness in his voice. Martin caught it, but didn't pry, figuring he'd have told her had he wanted to. "I get that, I had the same thing when I left home. My parents were real sweet 'n all but at some point I just had to leave."

She chuckled to herself. "I think of goin' back sometimes, but I don't think they'd be real pleased seein' how I make my caps nowadays. Or how I got caught in the middle of some big battle of power. I mean goddamn, I took the job as courier 'cause I thought it'd be easy, y'know? Not too many dangers, just deliverin' packages all over the Mojave and then BAM – bullet to the head."

* * *

Boone listened to her endless chatter, going on and on about how much it'd sucked that she'd gotten shot in the head. He found it strange that she had a sense of humour about it, even if he could hear in her words how angry she was – an anger he couldn't quite place.

The woman never seemed to shut up, but he didn't actually mind.

She asked him the occasional question and continued on with another story, and he was beginning to think she hadn't talked to another human being for years – next to business talk, obviously. When he first met her, she had seemed like a straight down to business kind of woman, or so he thought.

It would've made sense, with the 5000 caps rifle on her back, one would think she had either robbed a casino or had helped at least half of the Mojave back on its feet. Nevertheless, she seemed very attached to the weapon, as it barely had a scratch on it and seemed extremely well taken care of.

He also wondered about the score she had to settle with the Legion, like she had said up in the dinosaur. '_I have a score to settle with the legion as well. Answers to find, hell, maybe not even just answers.'_ That's what she had said, and he wondered about what else she had to find. But as long as she wouldn't ask him about Carla, he wouldn't ask about her own problems with the legion. For now, anybody who wouldn't stop him from shooting another was a companion to him.

They climbed the hill to the Mojave outpost, and he was very glad when they finally reached the goddamn top. He was in good shape, but had been hauled up in the dino's mouth for too long and had gotten used to sitting or standing all day. Long hikes all around the wasteland were something he'd have to get used to again.

Martin was headed straight for the barracks, which were surprisingly empty. He guessed that there weren't that many troopers to begin with, let alone that many of them weren't on patrol right now, seeing as Nipton was practically destroyed. He sat down on a bed opposing hers, a silent agreement of not wanting to sleep in the same bed in their heads. She unstrapped and unbuckled the armor, left in her wifebeater and the pants that came with the armor. She took her rifle in hand, inspecting it for damage, possible blocks in the barrel – anything.

He had been curious about that rifle since they met, as it was a very unusual rifle to carry around. He had never known anyone who could afford it to begin with – let alone a courier who'd just taken a bullet to the head and had most likely been robbed.

* * *

"Where'd you get that rifle from?"

Boone's question startled her the slightest as she looked up from her precious rifle, which she was just about to clean. She smiled as she took an old, dirty rag in hand and cleaned the barrel with it.

"It was a present… from my husband." She said, the last part of her sentence spoken a little softer. Boone seemed to be surprised by that answer, to say that least.

She continued to speak. "Before this beaut', I had a shabby old hunting rifle that didn't even have a scope… it was a horrible weapon, but worked just fine for simple huntin'. I always told him how I wanted a sniper rifle so badly, always tellin' him how I'd shoot birds from the sky with it. He'd always laugh and say 'well, you just might wake up with one someday.'. "

The smile on her face had only gotten wider as she told her story.

"'n we had this lil' farm a couple of miles away from Goodsprings. So one day he told me he had to leave for a few days, 'cause he'd gotten word of a package he had to get. I insisted on comin' with him, but he promised me he'd come back as soon as possible, and that I had to stay t'protect the farm, so I did."

She started giggling then, using the back of her hand to cover her mouth. "So then, when the sonnovabitch came back, he had this big package with 'im. 'n just as he'd planned, I was asleep. Next mornin' I woke up with this rifle… my rifle. I tried getting him to tell me the price, but he'd just reply with 'It ain't more expensive than seein' you happy'. 'n I guess that was true… this rifle stays with me 'till the day I die." She sighed, quieting down as she finished cleaning the rifle, putting it down beside her bed.

* * *

Boone was unsure of what to say next, watching her and the rifle for a minute. The silence wasn't very comfortable, and he was happy when she broke it of her own accord.

"Found out a few years later he'd bought it at gun runners for 'bout 5500 caps or somethin'. No idea where he'd gotten that kind of money from, but still. 's the best damn weapon I've ever had, 'n I kinda wish I could've given him something of the same value, y'know?"

Boone could only nod as he lay down, the bed protesting under his weight. He wanted to ask what had happened to her husband, but decided against it. He could only assume that her hate towards the legion was connected to her husband somehow, and he wouldn't ask her as much for now.

With one last sigh, he heard her lay down in the bed next to his. He cast a glance at her, and raised his eyebrows when he saw she was not going to take her sunglasses off.

Still, somewhere in the back of his head, he was glad he'd met her, and that she was so damn talkative after all. It certainly was a lot better than sitting up in that fucking dinosaur's mouth all day, hoping to shoot something. He cast a glance at her, and saw that she'd turned her back to him, and had just snapped out of his thoughts in time to hear her mumble a 'goodnight, boone' before she drifted off to sleep.

He'd never really thought that even a simple goodnight wish from someone who had his back all the time would make him relax if even the slightest. Whatever the hell her reason was for having him with her during her travels, he was damn glad she had one.


	5. When nightmares don't pass easily

_A/N: And there goes chapter 5. I've been ill for a couple of days, and my pc exploded. So for now, I'll be using my brother's pc. _|D _Testweek is coming up and I'm going back to school tomorrow, so the next couple of chapters may take a little longer than the past 5 ones. Anyway, enjoy it 3_

* * *

_Monday August 31st, 2281 __– 9:30 am, Mojave Outpost Barracks_

Martin stirred in her sleep, haunted by dreams of that night just outside of Goodsprings.

_Checkered suit, slicked back hair, engraved gun…_

Her unconscious fingers clutched to the mattress as her breath quickened, the memories clear and vivid in her mind.

'_The game was rigged from the start.'_

She gasped and shot upright, almost hitting her head against the bed above hers. Her breathing heavy and irregular, her fingers slid over the scar near her temple. She looked at her rifle, still standing against the wall, and caught a glance of Boone staring at her. She caught her breath and sat on the edge of the bed, sighing as she ran both her hands through her messy brown hair.

"Guess that bullet to the head ain't gonna go by as easy as I'd hoped." She said, huffing. "Goddamn…"

Boone sat up as well, rubbing his face for a moment before he looked at her again. He saw the scar, and from the way one of her hands massaged the back of her scalp, he guessed that had to be where the exit wound was.

Martin stood and stumbled to the bathroom, splashing her face with water. She ran her wet hands through her hair, hoping to give it at least some sort of shape, even if most of it would be hidden under her 1st Recon beret. Boone was putting on his boots when she came back, giving her a nod when she passed by to sit down on her bed.

"So, how'd you sleep?" she asked, stretching and reaching for her own armor.

"Fine." He replied as he tied his laces. Even though it was a short and simple reply, Martin was glad he'd given one. She'd been really surprised when he'd asked her about her rifle too, figuring that somewhere in the back of his head he was just as curious about her as the other way around.

"And you?" he asked then, his head raised.

As much as it may've seemed as an innocent question, she wasn't stupid; he wanted to know about her nightmare. "Oh, uhm…" She chuckled awkwardly and scratched behind her ear. "Guess I owe you a bit of an explanation on that part. Eh.. Well, 'bout two weeks ago I had to make this delivery to New Vegas… no idea what it was, can't remember it anyway. 'n well, 'parently got myself caught right in the middle of somethin' really important. Some asshole knocked me out, stole my delivery, shot me in the head 'n buried me alive. Some robot got me out 'n the Doc in Goodsprings got me back on my feet." There was a certain anger and bitterness in her voice, an anger that made it… personal. "According to Manny the son of a bitch is in Boulder City right now… so we'll be headed there in about a week. I gotta stop by Goodsprings for a couple a' days first. 's more important t'me than anythin' else."

* * *

Boone noticed a certain reluctance in her last sentence, as if she was extremely careful with her choice of words. He'd heard enough for now, not wanting her to tell her complete history all at once. She didn't pry for his, he wouldn't either. He got up and headed for the mess hall with her, Rex scurrying behind them. He went ahead to get himself a cup of coffee, and noticed her standing beside him with a mug in her hand, waiting for him to be done with the machine so she could get her own. He sat down by a table as soon as he was done, taking slow sips from his coffee, savouring the moments of peace he had before they would go out to the wasteland again. Martin herself came back with a mug of coffee and a bowl of squirrel bits, putting it down for Rex to eat as she sat down on the other side of the table. She warmed her hands around her mug, staring outside with a sigh. "We can go straight for Goodsprings today… or set up camp near Primm."

Boone looked up at her for a moment and shrugged. "If we don't make Goodsprings before nightfall we'll just set up camp along the way." He said, drinking the last of his coffee. Something was different in her composure that day.

Maybe it'd been the nightmare, maybe the fact she had to go back to Goodsprings, he wasn't sure.

Maybe their attack on the legion camp had brought up some painful memories. He knew it had with him, anyway. A couple of minutes later they both got up and took their rifles, leaving the barracks. When they walked down the hill he felt something was missing, something was entirely different from the days before. She _looked_ fairly normal to him, and Rex wasn't ill or anything. Whatever it was she had to go back to Goodsprings for, it was bothering her – even he could tell.

* * *

Martin hadn't said a word since they'd left the barracks, her mind all the way ahead in Goodsprings already. She'd have to tell Boone eventually, but she felt so sorry for the man she couldn't stand the thought of having to tell him. But she was probably just exaggerating, he would probably just nod and go along with it, they hadn't known each other for long enough to really be affected by that sort of thing. And the fact that they didn't know each other that well bothered her, but every question about his wife or time in the NCR was a bold move that she had to take.

"Boone, I wanna ask you a real personal question on your behalf, if you don't wanna answer that's your call, 'kay?" she looked up at him and he nodded, probably already expecting the 'worst'.

"Your wife…" she held her breath for a second, looking at his face to see anything of a reaction, but there was none – neither positive or negative. "The… the extra beret you carried around… does it have anything to do with her?" it was an absolute shot in the dark, but maybe one he was willing to answer.

"No." he replied. "It belonged to someone I knew within my sniper battalion. He was shot, they gave me his beret as a reminder of him."

Somewhere, somehow Martin was glad it didn't have anything to do with his wife. "Can you tell me about her, Carla, I mean?" she asked the question with extreme care, not wanting to piss him off. "I don't mean to pry."

Boone exhaled through his nose, the hands in his pockets balling to fists for a moment before unclenching again. "No." he said after a moment, his jaw clenched.

"Okay, I understand." She replied as they walked on in a somewhat awkward silence. "What's the worst mission you ever had?" she asked, her voice a little cheerier already. Before he could answer – or not, for that matter – she was already talking on about her own.

"I've been doing all these jobs across the Mojave, and I've also hunted bounties at Camp McCarran. That was the _worst_ mission I've _ever_ had, 'cause I couldn't work the way I usually do. I don't know if you've noticed, but most of the time I kill without makin' people suffer, just a bullet straight to the head. Problem was, I had to kill three fiends; Violet, Cook Cook and Driver Nephi. Now these were all real tough 'n real annoying to kill, but I had to bring back their heads as proof! I wasn't allowed t'take headshots, at all! 'n I hated that so bad, having to aim for their chest all the time. So when I was finally done with all that, first thing I did was go out and headshot the shit out of some legionaries. Y'know, to bounce back." She'd giggled through the entire last sentence, a big smile underneath those sunglasses of hers.

* * *

Boone had shrugged her questions about Carla off of him, listening to her story about the worst mission ever. Somewhere in the back of his head he felt that it'd only be fair to tell her, as she'd told him about her husband, but the other part of his brain was yelling at him that it was none of her damn business.

Still, he knew she was only trying to get to know him better, and he could appreciate it that much that he wouldn't scold her for asking in the first place.

Surprisingly enough, he found himself a little amused at her story, at how pissed off she'd been that she hadn't been allowed to take headshots at all. Maybe when the time was right, he would tell her a little bit about Carla, if she'd ask again. Until then he'd just listen to her chatter on about her experiences on the battlefield.

"Oh and, Boone?"

He looked up from the ground disappearing under his feet as they walked, and found her looking right back at him. "This Benny is the guy who shot me… so if we find 'em, do me a favour 'n shoot him when I tell you to?" That same anger again. It just kept coming back whenever she spoke of this Benny or the Legion. "Sure."

He was utterly surprised when she gave him a playful punch against his arm.

"Thanks, Boone."

He wondered why she wouldn't want to shoot him herself, but maybe there was no reason behind it whatsoever.

"Is this guy with the legion?" he asked, looking up at the sun for a moment.

"No. 'parently he's with the Khans or somethin' like that. It doesn't matter to me at all. The fucker shot me and he needs to die." The muscles on her jaw seemed to flex, eyebrows furrowing behind her sunglasses. "'n if you shoot him, be sure to hit his hands first, or his feet, kneecaps. 's long as he suffers."

"Thought you were the kind that didn't wanna make people suffer."

"Exceptions, Boone. Exceptions."


	6. Guess who's home?

_A/N: No Boone's were hurt in the making of this chapter. Four mugs of tea and a tangerine were, however._

_

* * *

Monday August 31st, 2281 __– 13:26, Powder Ganger Camp West_

"Spotted! To your left!"

Martin's Cowboy Repeater hauled off to the left, rapid shots killing another one of the convicts. Boone kept wondering how the hell she stacked all those weapons of hers, considering it packed heavy weight on her back in battle. So far he'd seen her whip out a revolver, a 10mm submachine, her sniper rifle, the cowboy repeater she was holding and a trail carbine.

Martin had to reload real quick, ducking behind the rusty shell of a destructed car to do so. The distinctive metal click of her shotgun was his cue, and he raised his head from behind a couple of barrels he'd been hiding behind. She'd ran out from behind the car, Rex running out in front of her. From a distance, it was a lot more difficult to get a decent hit with her shotgun. Boone took care of distant targets, while she made sure nobody would reach him.

He knelt down, his hands reached for the ammo in his pocket. He reloaded as quickly as he could, cocked his gun and sat back up, trying to see where the last of the fuckers had gone. Rex made a run for the other side of the bus, why would he-

"BOONE!"

He caught a glance of Martin's shocked expression, looking up to his left. He'd heard and seen the long fuse dynamite too late, the explosive landing right next to his feet. In a split-second, he made a jump away from his hiding spot, but was too late. He was launched another three feet away, the explosion ringing in his ears. He felt a searing pain in his left leg, and could feel the barrel's metal bits cutting in his arm and even on his cheek.

Martin made a run for him, immediately inspecting his wounds. Rex joined them not much later, lying at their feet as he whined, ears flat against his head. "Shit, Boone, I'm so sorry…" she said, grabbing a switchblade from the back of her pants, quickly and carefully cutting his pants open "Looks like a bad burn with a couple of deep cuts… 's a nasty wound… Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuckfuckfuck-"

Boone winced a little, but opened one eye. "Relax… what are you sorry for, anyway?"

Martin huffed and shook her head, scrambling through her bag to find a stimpak. "Boone, you've watched my back since day one, 's only fair I return the favour, no?" she leaned down to get a better look at the wound, inspecting her own hands. "Hm…" she reached for a bottle of purified water, washing her hands clean before she tended to the wound again. As careful as she could, she removed bits and pieces of metal from his leg, before she injected the stimpak to take care of the burn. "'sides… I've been travelling this godforsaken wasteland for six and a half years… I think, something like that. And it gets… really, fucking lonely out here. Rex was a huge improvement but he would never talk back to me, so now, there's someone I can talk to. And it may seem like such an insignificant thing in times like these, but I was going mad, it felt isolated and alone." She sighed and grabbed another stimpak, treating his arm in the same manner as she had his leg.

Boone looked at her through his sunglasses as she treated his wounds, not quite sure of what to respond. Even from behind her sunglasses he could see how much she hated it that he'd gotten hit by a stick of dynamite, even if neither of them had really seen it coming.

"That'll heal just fine…" muttered Martin absentmindedly, staring at Boone's leg. "You might have a bit of a limp the next couple a' days, but we ain't goin' nowhere 'cept Goodsprings, so that's okay."

Boone felt something trickle along his cheek. His right hand reached up to feel it, and he saw a drop of his own blood. Martin snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him, her smile reappearing. "Oh dear, now yer pretty face is all wounded!" she giggled, leaning down to inspect the cut on his cheek. "Hmm… That'll heal within the next day, still though."

She took the bottle of water she'd used earlier, pouring a few drops on his face to clean the wound. "Real sorry I couldn't warn you earlier there."

Boone shook his head. "Don't sweat it. I've been worse."

She snorted and sat down next to him, her arms resting on her knees as she stared in front of her for a while, occasionally glancing at his wounds. Boone stared at the sun for a while himself, checking his left arm from time to time. She'd done a good job on treating him, he gave her that. "Where'd you learn this?" he asked her.

"My dad was a doc, I was a kid that got bruised a lot so I kind of grew up with medicinal basics. In case you were wonderin' 'bout all those scars, I don't really like stimpaks 'n all, so I usually just patch it up 'n let it heal." She explained, shrugging. "But your wounds were a lil' too severe for that, hope you don't mind."

Boone shook his head. "No, I don't. Thank you."

"You're welcome… what was your upbringing like?" she asked simply, looking down at him. "Hey, if we're gonna share family stories it'd best be both ways."

"My parents were always busy, but okay. I left home when I was seventeen, enlisting in the NCR not too long after that. Was never one to keep myself busy, anyway, I needed something to do." He said, trying to be fair at least and share a little bit of his story with her as well.

"Regrets?"

"Sometimes."

Martin raised her eyebrows and sighed, rubbing her arm with her right hand. "I should probably tell you something before we get to Goodsprings." She said softly.

Boone raised his head a little to get a better look at her. "Yeah?"

"Weee're… going to Goodsprings because my daughter lives there." She said, smiling awkwardly. "I don't have the caps to buy or build a house at all, so I left her in the care of Doc Mitchell… and every two weeks I return for a week to be with her, to give my share of caps to Mitchell, and then I'm on my way again. I'm trying to make a living out of it 'till I can settle down somewhere with her…"

Boone's eyebrows were making an attempt to reach his hairline as he sat up. "You've got a daughter?"

Martin nodded and smiled. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I don't know… it's complicated."

It raised a single question in Boone's mind. "Where's your husband?"

Martin's jaw clenched, hands folded together tightening around each other. "I don't know, Boone… I have no idea."

* * *

Martin was having troubles trying to keep her cool, taking deep breaths. "But that's it… that's the reason why we're going there. That little girl means the world to me, I hope you don't mind."

He seemed to understand, and that was good enough for now. Glad that she'd been able to tell him before they reached Goodsprings after all took a load off of her shoulders. Of all the days she'd been travelling with him, this was definitely the most awkward silence of all. She sat and stared at her hands, trying to figure out what to say. To her surprise, Boone took the lead on that one.

"So we'll be staying at Mitchell's house, then." He stated, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yeah… he's got a guestroom nowadays. You don't mind it, do you?"

"No, just making sure."

Martin fidgeted on for a while, when he said something she had never expected to come out of his mouth.

"But eh… what are we waiting for? Your daughter's expecting you."

Martin got up on her feet and reached down to help him up. His limp was still pretty bad, but she slung an arm around his waist to support him. "You'll just have to lean on me, then." She giggled, taking it easy as they walked towards Goodsprings. They were silent for most of the walk, but their silence was broken when they reached Goodsprings at last.

"Finally…" she whispered under her breath, fastening the pace of their walking, much to Boone's dissatisfaction. She took it easier with him when they had to walk upwards to Doc Mitchell's house, standing still at the front door. She let go of Boone and took a step back, taking a deep breath. "Well…"

Her hand lingered over the door handle, before she finally just laughed and pushed the door open. "Guess who's home?"

From the very corner of the house one heard an overly excited shriek. Martin stepped inside and kneeled down, tears forming in her eyes when the little girl, not a day over six years old ran towards her and wrapped her tiny arms around Martin's neck.

She lifted the little girl, hugging her tightly as the girl chanted 'Mommy's home! Mommy's home!'.

"She sure is, sweetie… she sure is." She giggled and kissed her daughter, laughing happy tears. "How's my little Robyn been? Did ya miss me?" she held her little girl high in the air, laughing and twirling around.

Boone closed the door behind him and waited patiently, watching the scene unfold. Martin held her daughter in her arms again, before shaking hands with Mitchell.

Robyn pulled on her mother's shirt, her little head hidden behind her mother's. "Mommy, who's that man…?"

Martin's eyes turned to Boone then, a smile appearing on her face. "That's just…"

_Fuck. I don't know his first name._

"Mister Boone. 's just a friend of mine… say hi, Robyn." She said, looking at her daughter as the little girl raised her hand and waved at Boone. "Hello, mister Boone…"

And as confused as Boone had been at that moment, he raised his hand and waved back at her.


	7. Someone else's reflection

_A/N: There's a chance I'll upload chapter 8 as well tonight, so enjoy. ;)_

_

* * *

Monday August 31st, 2281 – 9:45 pm, Doc Mitchell__'s House_

Boone had been sitting on the chair by the coffee table the entire time, watching his companion and her daughter in silence. The little girl, Robyn, seemed utterly intrigued by Rex, holding entire staring contests with the dog, much to Martin's amusement.

It was strange, watching her like this. He had seen her as a ruthless killer on the battlefield, as a caring companion when he nearly had his legs blast off and even as a scared headshot victim back in the barracks. And now he saw her as a mother, holding the almost sleeping girl in her arms as she sat on the couch. His jaw clenched when he thought of how Carla might've looked the same, with their child in her arms. Martin stood up, singing a soft tune to her daughter as she left the room. Boone could see her walk into the room that had been turned into Robyn's, and shifted in his chair to get a better look. Martin put a pyjama on her sleeping daughter, and lay her down in the bed. She kneeled down next to it, pulling the blankets over Robyn and putting a teddy bear in her hands, which the girl embraced with her unconscious arms. Martin sat for another minute, before she got up again and left the room, leaving the door open just in case.

Martin sat down in front of him and nodded at his leg. "How's your leg doin'?"

"It doesn't hurt, I can walk, I guess it's okay." He replied, resting his elbows on his knees. "Why didn't you tell me?" his question came in a whisper, as if he didn't want to wake the child sleeping in the room behind them. Martin sighed. "When I was in Crawford's office, I had to read every single paper in a try to find concrete evidence on Carla's disappearance… When I finally did find the bill of sale, I wish I never had. I don't know how far along Carla's pregnancy was, but I was sure you'd known about it. I come here every two weeks, and not wanting to leave you behind somewhere I feel obligated do bring you with me. I didn't tell you because I was afraid it would remind you of Carla too much, and what could've been if the legion hadn't taken her. Nobody deserves to have those memories, even if I don't know what they are exactly, I can imagine."

There was a long silence between them. Boone was trying to process what she'd just said, his hands tense, fists clenching and unclenching. "Why do you care so much?" his voice was rough, albeit not unfriendly.

"Because I know how you feel, Boone. And nobody deserves to feel that way, ever."

"How do I feel, then? You tell me."

"Responsible. You think you have no purpose, that what happened was your fault, that you should've been there to hold them off. You believe that if you had never met her, her fate would've been different."

Boone grit his teeth, his knuckles splashing white as he clenched his fists again. "How do you know-…"

"Because I did, too."

* * *

Martin rubbed the back of her neck and awaited his response. Her statement had really hit home, at least she thought it had. From the way Boone reacted she could only hope it would do him good in a way.

"But I guess I'm lucky… I have Robyn." She said softly, looking over her shoulder. "She's my purpose… The cliff over the Colorado river… I've been there more than once, but I knew I couldn't leave her behind like that, ever. She needs me, and I need her to keep going… I won't stop until I have my answer, no matter how long that's gonna take."

She looked back to Boone, who was staring at floor, probably lost in thought. "The other reason why I didn't tell you…"

Boone raised his head again, snapped out of thought. "I have always had this feeling of guilt and regret because my husband never got to meet his own daughter… I thought you had the same, in a way… And maybe that being this close to a child would make that feeling even worse, I don't know."

It never ceased to amaze her how understanding he seemed, or at least how tolerant. He nodded and sat back in his chair with a sigh, nodding to Robyn's room. "How old is she?"

"Six… she grows up so damn fast…" Martin's troubled expression changed, a dim smile appearing on her face. "She's such a rebel, too… She's already got this fascination with guns, rockets and that sort of thing. In a few years I'll teach her how to shoot properly… I'll bet she's got the same knack for rifles as her dad." She chuckled softly and sighed. "She looks like him… the same eyes… the same expression…"

She swallowed thickly and blinked a small tear away, happy she wore those sunglasses. "She's a smart girl."

Boone nodded again, rubbing his hands together and staring at his palms. "Why are you so pissed at this Benny?"

* * *

Even if it was the worst time to ask, he wanted an answer to his question.

"Why are you so pissed at this Benny?" he asked as he leaned forward again.

Martin couldn't help but chuckle. "What, you sayin' you wouldn't be pissed when you'd be shot in the head by a sly fucker like that?"

"You know what I mean." His voice was a little more stern, as if he demanded an answer. He wasn't sure why exactly he wanted to know so damn badly, maybe her curiosity towards him had sparked his own a little, he didn't know.

Martin scratched behind her ear, trying to find the words to tell him exactly what she held against this Benny. "Alright… let me put it this way…" she took a deep breath and tried again. "You hold this… giant grudge against the Legion not just because you were an NCR, but also because of what happened to Carla. And you won't rest until you've killed each and every legionary out there… With Benny, it's almost the same. Lucky for me, it was a one man's job to shoot me and all, so if he's dead I'll be done with it, you know? But to answer your question; Boone, I'm pretty sure you've seen Carla scared one or two times, and I'm sure you felt horrible when that happened. Well imagine me, waking up a few days after that bullet to the head, and looking straight into the teary, hopeful eyes of my six year-old daughter. That's, why I hate him. And that's, why he needs to die."

And there it was, that vicious anger he'd heard in her voice so many times before. It made perfect sense to him, and she'd been right. He'd seen the same fear in Carla's eyes, taken by the legion… that was without a doubt the worst memory he had of her. He tried to imagine what Martin had seen, pure fear in the innocent eyes of a child.

He looked up when he heard a thud, finding that Martin had stood up and was walking out of the room.

"I'll be outside if you need me… 's kind of hot in here."

He nodded and watched her leave, sighing when he heard the front door click. He stared in front of him, thinking about everything she'd said in the past ten minutes or so. Minutes past as he sat in his chair, and before he knew it, it was already half past eleven. He got out of his chair and winced, his leg still hurting from the bits and pieces of metal that had cut deep into his flesh. He limped past Robyn's room as quietly as he could, hearing the little girl mumble in her sleep. He opened the front door and walked out on the porch, looking around. It wasn't until he heard a sob that he saw her, sitting against the fence in front of the house. Her shoulders shook with quiet sobs, one hand at the back of her neck, the other covering her face. Her sunglasses had been tossed beside her, as uncharacteristic as that was, it almost worried him. He leaned against the doorframe and sighed, knowing that everything she had just told him were without a doubt the most painful things that had happened to her the past couple of years. He looked at her and wished that somehow, even if just a little bit, he could help her out a little. He now realized how much it _actually_ meant to her that he was travelling along, that she had someone to talk to. Everything that'd happened had been building up inside of her since day one. Whatever had happened to her husband, it had traumatized her as much as Carla's death had scarred him. He sighed and shook his head, taking the first step in her direction.

"Mister Boone?"

He turned his head at the sound of Robyn's soft, childish voice, tainted with a soft lisp. The girl was clutching to her teddy bear, looking up at him through big, blue eyes.

"Have you seen mommy?"

Boone turned his head just a fraction, his eyes turned to the left. He sighed again and shook his head. _She doesn't have to see her like this…_

"No." he said, kneeling down to the girl's level. "But she's probably at the saloon… she'll be back in a little while."

Robyn nodded, clutching the teddy bear tighter in her tiny arms. "There's a monster in my room…"

Boone felt something unfamiliar inside of him as he stood up again. "Where?" Robyn reached up and took one of his fingers in her tiny hand, leading him to her room. "The closet…" Boone walked over to the closet and opened it, inspecting it for 'monsters'. "There's nothing here… you probably just had a bad dream." He turned around again, and the little girl nodded. Robyn crawled back into bed, holding the teddy close as she closed her eyes again. "Goodnight, Mister Boone…"

Boone left the room as quietly as he could, making his way back to the porch. He sat down next to Martin, who had stopped her sobbing and had put her sunglasses back on – it amused him, as she'd probably heard him coming.

"She wanted to know where you were… Told her you went out to the saloon and that you'd come back in a few minutes…" he said, his voice soft.

Martin nodded and wiped her cheeks. "Thank you…" her voice was broken and she exhaled shakily. "It's hard… I try so hard to take good care of her, but every time I come back and look at her… I see him…" her nails dug into her knees. "And I'm glad I still have her to remind me of the good memories… but as long as I don't have an answer… as long as I don't know where he is I won't be able to think of him other than hurt and hauled off in some legion slave camp…"

Boone turned his head to look at her. _Legion slave- oh, shit._


	8. Have a good time, baby

_Tuesday September 1st, 2281 – 11:43 pm, Doc Mitchell's House_

"What happened to you husband?"

Boone had wanted to ask her that question ever since she'd told him the story behind her rifle, but sensed that was probably a story that went too deep for her to tell. They had hardly been travelling together for a week and they were she'd nearly told him her life story, whereas he had told her next to nothing. He knew it was unfair, but he just wasn't ready yet to confide her his story.

Martin took a couple of deep breaths, her hands tightening around her knees, before she just rested them in her lap. "It was about two weeks after I'd found out I was pregnant… About one month along, and… we were just sitting on the couch, doing nothing… He always held me, I never really found out why he always did… never wanting to let go, either." a sad smile appeared on her face as she continued. "And all of a sudden we heard a lot of gunfire, and cries from our Brahmin 'n Bighorner… He looked out of the window and told me there was a legion party headed our way. He grabbed a bag and stuffed food and water in it, along with some other things that were really important… he took me in his arms one last time and kissed me, before he told me to run away as hard as possible while he held off the troops. 'You and our child, that's what's important. Now go!' he said, and I did. I was barely a mile away when I saw smoke arise from our house, I knew he was lost…" he swallowed thickly. "When I came back our house was burned down and there was only one Bighorner left, she'd probably made a run for it, too… somewhere amidst the rubble I found his sunglasses, intact, to my surprise… I never take 'em off, ever. So then I left for Goodsprings, and about a year or so after I gave birth to Robyn I left… Six years I've been travelling this fucking wasteland an' I still haven't found 'im… I know in the back of my head he's probably… g-gone, but as long as I don't know it for a fact… I won't have peace."

Boone felt sympathy for her as well as a certain level of respect for having dealt with it this way, fighting instead of giving up on everything. She had to, because of her daughter, and he knew it. The fact she still found her time to spend time with her daughter amazed him, knowing that living with such pain was exhausting. He sighed and sat back against the fence, casting a glance at her. "You still think of him?"

"I think of him… in a way that I feel bad that he never got to meet our little girl, and I miss him, sometimes. He wanted kids so badly, you know… his face when I told him…" she huffed and smiled softly. "And I do remember all the good times we had, but more in memory of how much we laughed than in memory of what we felt for each other… I don't think of him in an intimate way anymore, like he's still here… he wouldn't want that… I know he'd approve of my current lifestyle as well, but that's just too bad. I owe it to Robyn, in my opinion. Letting go of him was so damn hard… It took me well over five years to do so, but if I'd ever find someone who's right… I know he'd want me to go for it like I went for him. He always seemed to care more for me than for himself, and I did too, the other way around. He was my world… and yes, my world crashed after what happened. But I feel I'm getting closer to finding him – or at least finding out what happened… and then I'll finally have peace… he would've liked that…"

Boone nodded and rested his elbows on his knees, hands folding together. "When we leave here… where do we go next?"

Martin leaned her head back and hummed in thought. "I wanted to go to Boulder city first, look for Benny and kill him, buuut… it's been a few days since Manny told me that… and it's been even longer since Manny found that out… and since I was supposed to make the delivery to New Vegas… I think we should go there. If we don't find him there we can always go to Boulder city, no?"

"New Vegas it is, then." he replied, getting up. "I'm gonna hit the sack."

"Me too. Help me up, will ya?" she held her hand up and smiled up at him. He took hers with both his hands and helped her up easily, leaning on his good leg for support. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, a moment of silence.

"Boone, Boone…" she frowned at him. "What's your first name?"

"Craig." he said, and it sounded completely alien. Carla had been the last one to call him that, and that was a long time ago. "Yours?"

"Mariel."

An unusual name, that was for sure. Maybe her parents had gotten it from foreign literature, he didn't know. He let go of her hand and opened the door, walking inside.

* * *

Martin closed the door behind them, walking past Boone to her daughter's room. "I'll sleep by Robyn's side… the patient's bed over there, that's yours. Goodnight, Boone." she smiled at him and ditched her shoes next to the bed, crawling in next to her daughter. The latter crawled a little closer, then continued on sleeping.

The week passed quickly for all of them, their journey to New Vegas being a long and silent one. Neither spoke much in their trip to New Vegas for their own reasons; Martin was afraid and thrilled at the same time that she'd find Benny there, and Boone? Boone had met Carla there, memories flooding his mind more than he would've liked.

The Securitrons let them pass, to Boone's surprise. "Thought you needed 2,000 caps for that?"

"Or a passport. I've worked for the Kings for a while, they helped me with that." she explained, hands in her pockets as they walked through the gates.

"Howdy, pardne-"

"HOLY SONNOVA-… Viktor. Hi." Martin could not possibly have been less amused, the goddamn robot popped up EVERYWHERE when she least expected him to.

"Mr. House wants to speak to you, up in the lucky 38." said the robot, overly friendly for a piece of machinery.

"I'll speak to him when I'm done with my business. See you in a few, biscuit tin." she grumbled, stomping past him.

"Don't dawdle! He'll be waitin'."

She huffed and still had no idea where to go next, a hand in her hair, and decided to go the old-fashioned way- Ask A Hooker. She walked over to the nearest prostitute on the street and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hmm… I like what I see, baby."

"Maybe later. You seen a slick, tan man in a checkered suit walking around with a bit of an accent?"

"Benny-baby? Probably in the Tops, sugar."

"Thanks. Have a good one." she muttered, her eyes finding the giant 'THE TOPS' sign on the other side of the Strip. Rex walked beside her, amazed by all the shiny, bright lights in the city. Martin passed the gate and there they were – the Tops. She took a deep breath and popped her neck on both sides. "Well, get ready for a shitstorm." she muttered, entering the casino.

"Hey hey, baby, welcome to the Tops Hotel and casino! I'm gonna have to ask you to hand over any weapons you might be carrying." said the chairman greeter. Martin produced her biggest, easy to see weapons and lay them down on the table. That she still carried her switchblade and revolver, he hadn't seen.

"Have a good time, baby."

Boone walked next to her then. "I can't shoot without a gun, you know."

"You won't need one. Just wait here, I'll give you a signal."

"I'll sit tight." he replied, leaning against the wall with Rex at his feet.

Martin took a deep breath and looked around the casino, then caught eye of a checkered suit. Anger boiled up inside of her, and she took big, angry steps toward him. Because of her large, angry composure, Benny was quick to notice her as well.

"What in the goddamn-"

"Hello, _baby._" she growled through her teeth, and intense anger visible from even behind her sunglasses.

"H-hey now, smooth moves, okay? Smooth, like smooth little babies…"

"You should work on your aim, you piece of shit. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you."

"How 'bout four? They're called bodyguards. I have four and they're all packing, excluding me so baby that makes five. Every chairman in here is armed, so you might wanna think twice."

"It's called a sniper and there's two in this very building. Oh, and my extremely pissed off robotic guard dog. And don't think I'll hesitate to rip your head off in front of everybody."

Benny seemed taken off guard by that statement, his eyes shifty as he tried to find the other sniper.

She raised her hand, two fingers in the air as she cocked her hand in Boone's direction. "I dug myself out of that grave to plant you in yours, Benny."

Benny made a run for it, his bodyguards with him. She pulled out her revolver and shot his foot, causing him to stumble with a cry in pain, falling over and hitting his head on the floor. Boone had already jumped and punched the greeter in the face, taking his rifle from behind the counter. He shot anyone who pulled a gun from its holster, crouching behind the counter. Rex bit a bodyguard in his leg, tearing and ripping flesh from bone as he barked viciously. Every chairman had by now either fled the casino, or lay dead on the ground thanks to Boone. Martin was still standing by Benny, casting a shadow over him. She shot his hand, causing him to scream in pain once more. Boone stood behind him, his rifle in hand and ready to shoot. Rex barked him in the face, baring his teeth and growling.

"I hope you're not too attached to that head of yours. Mister Boone over there is gonna show you how its done properly." she said, holstering her revolver. "Do it."

And with one last bullet, Boone blast Benny's head off, blood splashing against the wall.

"Seriously, Boone, what kind of goddamn caliber do you use."

"Standard .308, why."

"No reason." she said, taking her switchblade and cutting open Benny's suit. She took his gun, admiring the engraving for a second, then reached into one of his pockets. "Ahhh… yeah, now I remember what I had to deliver. The goddamn platinum chip." she chuckled and stood up, the chip in her pocket.

"Well, ah… we're done here." she pulled a face and stepped over Benny's dead body. "Excuse us, everybody. As you were."

She took her weapons from the counter and left the casino, taking a deep breath once they were outside. "That felt amazing… and here, I don't even like killing."


	9. I shot the Sherrif

_Monday September 6th, 2281 – 15:32, New Vegas Strip_

As soon as they'd left the casino, they were approached by a Legion's representative. Boone had already taken his rifle in hand as soon as he'd said his name; Vulpes Inculta, but Martin had put her hand on his weapon, keeping it down. As soon as they'd gotten Caesar's mark, a token of peace, or some bullshit like that she'd laughed.

"Why didn't you kill him?" asked Boone, watching the Legionnaire leave.

"Because nobody kills the messenger, Boone. Plus, I needed to know where their base was." A wicked grin spread on her face. "Six years of travelling, killing, shooting, getting my ass handed to me and a bullet to the head later I finally know where to go."

Boone saw her point in that and slung his rifle on his back. "Okay. Where do we go now?"

"The lucky 38. Doctor or Professor or Mister House or something wanted to talk to me." She raised her eyebrows and walked out in front of him, Rex walking beside her as he kept chewing on what she guessed was probably Benny's eyeball. Yummy.

At the Lucky 38, Viktor was the first to greet her. "Well howdy, pardner! Good to see ya again. Boss is waiting for ya upstairs, so get a move on!"

"Yeah, yeah…" she grumbled, trying to walk past him.

"Oh! But I see you brought some friends, no problem, they just gotta wait outside."

Martin looked over her shoulder and nodded at Boone. "Okay… fine. You guys just wait outside, then…" she didn't trust it one bit, walking into the Lucky 38. Viktor took her up to the penthouse, her eyes shifty. There were Securitrons everywhere, and she cursed herself for not having bought that pulse gun when she had the chance. She walked down to the big computer screen with the man on it who she assumed to be Mr. House.

"You've been quite a busy little courier, haven't you?" said the screen.

"What is it with talking computer screens around here? Goddamn it." She grumbled. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I want. Benny's been… handled, and you've recovered the platinum chip. Let's have it."

Well at least he was straight down to business. "Why should I do that?"

"It's a very special item. There is nothing else like it in the entire world. It was lost for a long time, and difficult to find. That is all you need to know about it for this stage of our enterprise."

"You know I was shot in the head because of that thing, right?"

"Most unfortunate."

"How 'bout 'you're not getting the chip without a good reason'?"

"I'm afraid the delivery of the platinum chip is… non-negotiable. "

"You can't take it from me."

"No… but my securitrons can. So you might want to hand it over before I have to resort to less pleasant methods of persuasion."

"You don't tell me what big masterplan is behind this, I'm not helpin' you."

"Very well. My securitrons will take it off of your dead body."

And with that final message, the connection was lost and the Securitrons went on full alert, an alarm sounding throughout the building.

"I hate robots."

She took her Trail Carbine in hand, blasting one securitron to hell as the others started firing 9mm bullets at her. She dove behind a pillar and shot from there, making quick work of two others. She crawled out from behind the pillar and ran for the exit, finding it blocked by more securitrons. She fired two shots and had to reload, cursing loudly. She kept running but was hit by three bullets in her left leg, grunting in pain as she tried to reload her damn gun. Another shot right on the screen was enough to take down another. Viktor and that… weird, stupid lady-tron came for her, two bullets hitting her abdomen. They didn't go that deep, but they still drew a lot of blood. She tried to stay focused, getting a little drowsy from the pain. She fired four quick shots at the lady-tron, and reloaded as fast as possible. "Goddammit Viktor, I never liked you." She grunted, another bullet hitting her shoulder hard. With a cry in pain she fired the last shots she had in her gun, even after he'd gone down. The bullet that had hit her shoulder had definitely gone far too goddamn deep, a searing pain disabling her left arm. Her right hand reached for her revolver as she blasted the last two securitrons to bits as she leaned heavily against the wall. She felt a strange crack in the wall, her right hand inspecting it. She caught eye of the terminal to her right and limped over to it, her fingers punching the keys as fast as she could. "Goddammit, password…"

She had troubles hacking the terminal, but got it done eventually. For a girl who'd grown up on the land for the most part, she knew a lot about computers – or so she thought.

'_Open Antechamber.' … 'Yes.'_

And just as she'd expected, the wall opened up to another room, and she limped inside, leaving a nice, bloody trail behind. _Fucking Securishits._ She fired three quick shots at the first one, hid behind the wall, reloaded, and shot the second one. She noticed an elevator and another terminal, figuring the terminator unlocked the elevator and the elevator went down to some real important room. She sat down against the wall for a moment, hissing through her teeth as she tried to keep her thoughts together. The bullets began taking their toll on her body, tiring and numbing from blood loss. She got up again, leaning against the wall and the bookcases as she limped over to the terminal.

'_Unlock control room elevator.' … 'Yes.'_

She stumbled into the elevator, her hand losing grip on the gun she was still holding in case she'd have to blast another one of those damn machines to hell. When the elevator finally stopped she got up again, her eyes having to get used to her dark, mechanic surroundings. At the end of the metal bridge she saw something that looked a lot like a high-tech coffin of sorts, but she couldn't quite see what it was. Another terminal. Her left hand trying to hold on to the railing as she walked over to it, she squinted again to see what the hell kind of a thing that was. Was there… was there somethi- no, _someone_ inside of that thing?

"What in the name of Fuck is going on here…" she whispered to herself, looking down at the terminal to see what she was doing.

"Unseal LS chamber? LS? … Life Support...? What the…" she selected 'Yes.', punching the enter key. She stepped out from behind the terminal, stepping closer to the coffin-like construction to see what the hell was happening. When she saw two arms reach out she took a step back, breath hitching in her throat. Travelling the wasteland she had seen scary things all along. Super mutants, nightkin, ghouls, feral ghouls, _glowing_ feral fucking ghouls – but this, this was without a doubt the scariest thing she had ever seen. In something that looked like half a cocoon, was Mister House. A walking corpse, except he wasn't walking – everything about him was robotic, only his outer shell and possibly brain seemed to be the only biotic things about the man.. robot… robotman.

"Why… have you… done this? Centuries of preparation… centuries of preparation… so much good… undone…!" it spoke, his voice hoarse and robotic.

Martin swallowed a couple of times to regain composure. "You wouldn't tell me what you were plannin', then sent your goddamn robot friends after me, nearly got me killed – again… So I guess I just really don't like you."

"Fool…! To let… personalities… derail future… of mankind? Stupid…!"

Her shaking right hand still had a hold of the revolver. She knew that having him exposed to bacteria would kill him eventually and that disabling him would leave him staring out in front of him forever. She cocked the gun and sighed, taking another step back. "At least it's a short end to a long story…" she muttered.

"May there be… a Hell… for you… a Tartarus… bleak, unending…"

Those words echoed in her head as she pulled the trigger two times, the .357 cases falling to the floor. A shiver crept down her back when she realized the man barely spilt any blood, that he had dried up on the inside. She turned around and left the control chamber behind, her right arm around her waist, trying to 'stop' the bleeding. A Hell? This wasteland was only a lava pit short of being Hell itself.

* * *

Boone's eyes were beginning to hurt from the goddamn stairlamps he'd been staring at for what – half an hour? An hour? He'd lost track of time a while ago, sitting on the stairs and wondering what the hell was taking her so long. Rex seemed unsettled, walking up and down the stairs, his eyes uneasy and soft whines coming from his throat. Boone had seen enough NCR guard dogs to know that canines had a sixth sense for danger, and he didn't like it.

Behind him a door opened, and he turned his head, something relieved in his expression that she'd come back.

His relief quickly turned into worry, however, when her knees gave out in front of him and he had to catch her to keep her upright.

"Jesus Christ what happened to you?" he said, looking at all the bulletwounds.

"I've seen a lot of scary shit, Boone, but this tops all. Get me away from here, goddammit, now."

Boone did as he was told, one arm under her thighs as the other went around her back. He tried not to put pressure on her wounds, thinking of where they'd have to go as he walked. He knew there was a medical bay at McCarran, and a monorail that went there. It was a perfect solution for now, especially since she'd worked up a little reputation there.

"We'll go to camp McCarran. Now hold on tight." He said, before making a run for the railway station. The courier in his arms remained silent for the most part, even if it was obvious in how much pain she was. Rex ran behind them, ears flat against his head.

Boone leapt the stairs up to the station, taking three steps at a time. Once inside he slowed down, taking large steps to the monorail. He sat down, Martin in his lap, Rex sitting and alert by his feet. The arm around her back kept her in place, as he inspected the bullet wounds on her leg. Three bullets, two in her calves and one dangerously close to her kneecap.

"What happened in there?"

"House wanted the chip…" she said through gritted teeth. "But he wouldn't tell me why, so I refused… then his fucking robots shot me to hell, but I made it out alive… Killed House while I was at it, he was pissing me off…" a dim smile appeared on her face before she winced again.

"You were damn lucky… You really attract people that wanna shoot you, don't you?"

"You've kept your gun holstered so far."

Had she just made a sex joke? She had just made a sex joke. She had just- Goddamn it.

"… Hmph."


	10. I wish I'd never known

_A/N: Sorry for the delay of this chapter. Next week is testweek so the next couple of chapters will take a little longer, but hey, after that; Three weeks of freedom. Enjoy this chapter, cheers._

_

* * *

Monday September 6th, 2281 – 18:03, Camp McCarran_

Martin's world was spinning when she woke up, her body numb and tired. She mumbled something incoherent to anyone around her, having no idea where she was or how she'd gotten there. She tried to sit up but her body wouldn't let her, so she stayed down.

"You're at camp McCarran." Sounded a familiar voice to her left. She opened her eyes and to her biggest surprise, she was still wearing her sunglasses. Boone was sitting next to the bed she was lying on, toying with a small object he held in his hands.

"Whaddya have there…" she slurred, trying to focus.

"A key. Fell out of that rat Benny's pocket, figured it might be of use later."

"Oh… cool…" she closed her eyes again and lay her head back on her pillow, sighing softly. "What happened…"

"I got you to the infirmary as soon as we got off the train. Your bullet wounds were pretty bad so they had to operate to get the bits of lead out. You're all drugged up, that's why you're so dull. We should be able to leave in a day or so, if you still want to check out what this key's good for." Martin only nodded, drawing shallow breaths. Her throat was dry and sore, her head still cloudy from the anaesthesia. Rex lay curled up at her feet as though her were guarding her in his sleep, his ears on full alert, or so it seemed.

"Boone…"

Boone looked up from the key in his hands. "Yeah?"

"Keep that key for now… We're goin' to Cottonwood Cove first." She took a deep breath and pushed herself upright by her arms, her entire body numb and stiff from the procedure. She leaned back against the tent and sighed. "We can always go back to New Vegas... that's not my main priority right now, and I'm hopin' it ain't your first either… I'll need you there, especially once we reach the Fort."

With the last two words she could feel the silence grow heavy. The Fort with just the three of them as manpower was basically a suicide mission, she knew that, and Boone knew it even better.

* * *

Boone was dumbstruck for a moment, staring at her with his mouth shut. He knew that he was ready, that assaulting the Fort was what he'd been waiting for.

"You have a daughter at home." He said, his voice stern and almost unforgiving.

"I spoke to Mitchell about this… it's something I have to do, as selfish as that may sound. I owe it to myself to have that peace of mind, I owe it to her that she can live without her mother having a mental breakdown at the sight of her own child."

"What if we don't make it. What if we don't survive that assault."

"Then I'll never forgive myself for that, but if I don't take that risk, I'll never forgive myself for that either."

"Do you want her to grow up without a par-"

"I have VERY WELL considered that." She barked, turning her head sharply. "Agree or disagree as much as you want, Boone. I need you there and you know it, now are you in or not?"

"Fine." He bristled.

"And then you ask me why 'I care so much, anyway'. Why do you?"

Boone clenched his jaw, his fists clenching as he looked back at her. Even with their eyes covered by sunglasses, the anger was obvious in both of their expressions. "It gets real goddamn lonely up in that dinosaur, too." He said, his fists unclenching. "I don't like the thought of losing another companion."

Something in Martin's expression seemed to soften at that, but she kept her composure. "You were out of line, but as far as that goes – I wouldn't ask you to have my back if I didn't think you were as damn capable of that as possible. I trust you, so for goddamn once, trust me as well, will ya?"  
Boone kept his mouth shut but nodded, watching her lie down again and turning her back to him. He couldn't shake the feeling there was a lot more behind that remark than she let go, all of his head screaming that she'd been right.

The rest of the day went by pretty much the same. Both were silent and mentally preparing for their trip to the Legion's hideout. Boone wasn't in need of mental preparation, really, he had been doing that for years. He cleaned his rifle and repaired any minor issue he could find. Martin had been working out all day, trying to get her body working as it did before she got shot. He looked over to her rifle that was sitting on the bed, and found himself that it just didn't look right when it wasn't in her hands. As carefully as his trained hands could, he took the rifle in hand and took his rag, cleaning the barrel – even though that wasn't really necessary. He was fairly impressed by how well it had been preserved as he couldn't find any true, deep scratches in the shining metal. He was just cleaning her scope when he heard a loud throat clear in front of him, looking up to find Martin standing in front of him with her arms crossed.

"Mind tellin' me what you're doin' over there, Boone?"

"Just doin' you a favor."

"You do realize that if it weren't for you, you'd be dead by now."

Boone almost chuckled at that. "That so?"

"You're a sniper, you know more about guns than I do plus, if I trust you with my life I might as well trust you with my rifle."

"I'd trust you with my rifle."

She snorted and burst out laughing at that, Boone's confused expression only adding to her amusement. It took Boone another couple of moments to figure out what in the hell he'd said, then shaking his head and wishing he could pull his beret over his head.  
"_Not_ what I meant." He grumbled, continuing to focus on the sniper rifle in his hands. Martin continued laughing next to him for a while, before patting his back and getting up. "I know, I know. I'm just very immature."

* * *

The next day would be a long one, the hike to Cottonwood Cove taking forever. They stood on a cliff over the slave camp, watching out over the river and both savouring the last moments of peace before hell would break loose.

"I've been here before." Said Boone out of nowhere. "Any crimson, I'm takin' the shot. That won't be a problem, I suppose."

"Don't steal my kills and you'll live."

"Heh."

Martin checked her ammo before she turned and walked back to the road. She kept her weapon at ready when they walked down, because as soon as the first shot was fired, they'd be on a Suicide mission. She raised her scope to eye level and took a deep breath, kneeling down to keep her aim steady. A recruit walked right into her scope, and she took the shot. The bullet hit him right in the head and she grinned. _Still got it._  
It rang full alarm around the camp, Rex making a run for every faraway legion with a rifle in his hands. He'd been trained surprisingly well, she'd noticed that on their first day, when he'd only attack long range targets.  
Boone took one shot after the other, his reloads swift and his aim more precise than ever – and that was saying something. She could guess why, maybe Carla had been here – maybe she'd died here, everything was possible, but unimportant to think about.  
She ran another hundred feet, taking cover behind a crate. She shot another recruit in his dominant hand, knocking his 10mm straight out of it. Rex made quick work of said recruit, ripping him to pieces as both sharpshooters took care of the surrounding legionnaires. Martin had to reload as quick as possible, seeing as Boone was as well and they couldn't waste a second at a critical moment like this one. She heard a bullet hit her crate and she cursed under her breath, waiting for her opponent to reload. As soon as she heard even a second of silence in between the distinctive 9mm gunfire, she came up from behind the crate and shot the damn Decanus that had been shooting her.

Boone ran over to her and dropped himself in front of her, reloading his rifle as fast as he could. "There's a goddamn centurion near the HQ building… I can't reach him, but if he sees us, we're dead."

"I'm very willing to take that risk, are you?"

Boone cocked his gun and looked up at her. "Hell yeah."

She grinned at him and got up, taking a sprint to the nearest cover on the other side of the camp. Bullets caught up with her, missing her feet by a hair as she dove behind a barrel. She tried to find Boone, who had taken cover behind another crate not too far away from her. The centurion was in goddamn heavy armor, which meant that they'd have to hit him _right_ in the face. Rex biting at the centurion's leg, who tried to kick away the animal while shooting at his enemies.  
When Martin finally had a good aim of his face, his head exploded and she could hear Boone cock his gun again.

"What part of 'don't steal my kills' didn't you understand?" she asked, a faked anger in her voice. Boone huffed and got up from behind the crate, walking over to her.

"Told you I'd take the shot."

"You're such an ass." She nudged him with her elbow and smiled, inspecting Rex for damage. Luckily it was nothing that couldn't be fixed with some scrap metal and a stimpak.  
"Now… let's check out those headquarters."

* * *

Once they were inside the headquarters, Martin had been scrambling through papers like a woman possessed. He was confused but kept his mouth shut, watching her toss one unimportant paper after the other into the air.

"Goddamn it… shit… where is it?" she yelled, kicking over a file cabinet.

"What're you looking for, anyway?"

"My husband's papers. You said it'd be like them to keep paperwork, so I want to know. What happened."

She sat down behind the desk and pulled out one of the drawers, flipping back one file after another until she reached the letter 'M'. Boone stood behind her as she tossed it on the desk, watching her shove papers out of the way until she had what she was looking for.

She read it aloud; "Martin, Cadell. 32 year old male. Status: … Deceased… Date of death: … 5 - 5 - 2275…?" her hands lowered, her body going limp for a moment. "That's hardly a week after he was taken from me…" she whispered. "He gave up…"


	11. Alakazam and goodbye

_A/N: Fiiiinnaaalllyyyyyyyyyyyy. Chapter 12 will take even longer asdfajhgajnhfgsfds. So sorry, testweek is consuming all my time. Enjoy the next chapter, see you guys in a couple of days. :)_

_

* * *

Tuesday September 7th, 2281 – 16:44, Cottonwood Cove HQ_

Boone had been watching her as she rambled on in panic, turning over and emptying every single drawer in the desk.  
"T-this can't be! He never gave up on anythin'!" whispered Martin, not even bothering with holding back the tremble in her broken voice. "H-he promised t-to fight for us…"

He sighed softly and watched her try and find the cause for her husband's death, tears running down her cheeks from behind her sunglasses.  
"Crucifixion, decapitation, burned, anythin' but suicide or endless torture…"  
Rex had his ears flat against his head, whining softly, lying by her feet. Boone took the file in hand that said her husband had been deceased, reading it for himself. He frowned at first when he saw that at the bottom it said he hadn't even made the journey to the Fort, then realized that the only reason she probably hadn't seen it was because she was blinded by her own panic.

"Why do you want to know it so badly?" he asked, lowering the paper for a moment to look at her.  
She turned her head sharply, something immediately changing in her expression. "Wouldn't you wanna know what happened to Carla?" she yelled through tears, hands shaking with the lack of self control.  
Boone grit his teeth, trying not to snap back at her firsthand. He would've reacted the same way if he hadn't… if he hadn't known damn well what had happened to Carla in the first place. "It says here that he didn't even make it to the Fort. He was too weak to travel by day five, and they shot him on day six because he was worthless to them at that point." His voice was cold, and his expression let nothing go of emotion or even a pinch of sympathy. He tossed the paper in front of her and she reread it, before sinking back in her chair, taking slow, deep breaths.

"At… at least he wasn't in that much pain…"

"He knew it was the only way."

"He always knew what was best for us… I guess even when his life was on the line he thought of me…" she stuffed the paper in her pocket and remained silent for a minute, staring at the desk that was littered with documents, charts and other insignificant objects of paper.  
"It just doesn't do right by him that it had to be this way… torn away from his wife and unborn child with no good reason to it whatsoever…"

She looked up at Boone and stared at him for a while, the fact that she had a question on her tongue being blatantly obvious. "What do you think, Boone…?" she asked softly. "D'you think I could've saved him?"  
Boone stared at the floor, arms crossed over his chest. He had heard her question as though it came from far away and shook his head. "No… you couldn't have."

* * *

Boone's answer didn't really take her by surprise, expecting that he'd felt the same way about Carla. She took a deep breath and got up, taking a frag grenade from one of the shelves. "C'mon Rexie…" Her voice sounded empty, the usual happy tone in it extinguished to nothing more than a lonesome spark. She stood outside of the headquarters, tossing the grenade from one hand to another. "This baby's gonna blow…" she said, more to the wind than to either of her companions.  
Taking another couple of steps back to hide behind a crate, she pulled the pin from the grenade and threw it right into the CC-HQ. She covered her ears and kneeled down, Boone and Rex following her example. Two or three seconds later it exploded, the entire base going down to the ground as there'd been more explosives stacked in there. The air around them grew hot, dusty and difficult to see through. Gravel, shrapnel, glass, wood splinters, sand and mud flew over their heads and fell down by their feet and all around the camp. They waited another couple of minutes before they got up again and examined the damage.  
With the bottom having collapsed, the second story had come down as well, adding to the destruction of the HQ. It wasn't until they heard coughs and soft cries from behind the collapses headquarters that they moved, coming out from behind the crates. Martin covered her mouth as to not inhale the dust, trying to find her way in the noise's direction. Her left hand reached out and touched a cold, metallic fencing.  
She hooked her fingers into it and tried to see clearly, eyes widening a fraction when she caught eye of what was probably an enslaved family. Her hand tracing the fence, she moved around to the back where she found the gate, locked and no key to be found. "Shit…" she muttered as she wiped the dust off of her sunglasses. "We must've shot the jailor… and all those fuckers look the same… Rex!"

Rex scurried over to her side, looking up at her as he wagged his tail, probably not getting how bad things were or could've been. Martin's hand rubbed against fence long enough until it was covered in lead and dust, but more importantly, its smell. She kneeled down and let Rex sniff her hand, then sent him away to look for the gate's key. The dust was beginning to clear, and for the first time that day she saw what actual destruction they had caused. There was blood everywhere, the sand and dirt stained red with Legion blood and possibly some of their own. The wicked stench of death was in the air everywhere, next to the smell of explosion, flames, burnt alcohol and bloody sand. She remained still by the fence, waiting for Rex' return as her eyes scanned the battlefield for Boone. He was right behind her just a minute ago, where'd he-

"Got the keys right here."  
A spasm rocked her body, her back against the fence. She looked up at him and pulled a face, brows furrowed. "That 'don't sneak up on me' thing goes both ways, y'know!" she grumbled angrily, snatching those damn keys from him. "Gimme those…"  
Rex had rejoined by her side now as she unlocked the gate, pushing it open and walking into the 'cage', for all intents and purposes. Walking over to the nearest inhabitant of said cage, the slave looked up at Martin with a look of such incredible hope and despair it made her wonder how long these people had been stuck there – and what they'd seen.

"Please, help us…" said the woman. "Please let us out of here!"  
Martin kneeled down by the woman, examining the collar the woman was wearing. It was bloodied, dirty, and infested with explosions. Great. Just great. "Right… I'm not risking taking it off… find someone who knows his way around explosives… you're free to go, all of you." Said Martin, helping the woman get up as she stood herself. She lead them out of the camp and up the route that lead to the Ranger Station up the road, making sure they had a fair chance of getting far away from there. Boone had stayed in the camp, looking out over the river, thinking, contemplating.  
Martin joined him at his side. "We'll set up camp here." She said softly. "Near the bridge… we'll have a good lookout, plus, we get some rest before tomorrow's assault… we'll both need that." She looked at him for a moment and patted his shoulder. "C'mon… let's see if we can get one of these tents to the bridge."

* * *

After a lot of pulling, cursing, tugging, more cursing and tossing down the mattresses they finally had their tent where they wanted it to be. Boone had been sitting by the fire for a little while now, watching Martin stand by the end of the bridge, looking out over the river. Rex had gone about his usual behaviour – growl at Boone and stare at him until it bored him, then go back to snuffling around the camp. Boone had made their food for the evening, a dead simple can of pork 'n beans Martin had had in her pack somewhere. She must've smelt it, for she came back a mere minute after it was done, sitting down by the other side of the fire. He hand her a bowl of pork 'n beans, which she took in her hand, taking a fork with her other.  
They sat in silence as they ate, and he couldn't help but be bothered by it. Martin poked at her food with her fork, trying to figure out what the fuck 'pork' was to begin with, let alone how it had survived for 200 years. She'd rather not know.

"You're unusually silent." He said finally, holding his bowl with both hands, warming them.

"You're unusually talkative."

"I've only said one-… very funny."  
Martin snorted, a smile creeping over her face as she sighed and shrugged. "I don't know, Boone… I've been searching for an answer for six and a half years, and now I have it after all this time and I just… I have no idea what to do with myself." She huffed. "I mean; Yes, I could go back and settle down somewhere with Robyn but… really? After travelling this piece of fucking shit wasteland for so long, killing nearly every day, getting shot, helping people out, finding kidnapped kids, slapping said kidnapped kids in the mouth for being annoying, slaughtering every legion in sight, getting shot _in the head_… There ain't no way in hell I'll ever be able to settle down, live an easy life, take care of my kid in peace… It's been too long…"

Boone stared at the beans in his bowl, and what seemed like outdated soup floating around it as he thought about that. "You've seen too much." He added.  
Martin nodded. "I would love to bring Robyn with me, y'know? Teach her how to shoot, how to defend herself and all, but I could never put her through such dangers… She should live in peace at least until she's six- or seventeen. I mean, that's when I left home, ransacked a small farm and made it my home… then I found Cadell – or rather, I shot him." She giggled softly at the memory.

Boone stared at her, bemused. "How'd that happen?"  
"I met him when I was out huntin' in the nearby 'woods', for lack of the better term. I'd just shot another bighorn when I heard a twig break in the bushes, so I figured it was a nightstalker. I fired my shot and got the shit scared out of me when I heard 'em scream in pain… I'd only hit his right shoulder, luckily.. So I took him back to my farm, scolded him for sneakin' up on me like that and treated his arm. He was left handed…" she stared into the fire, stirring her pork and beans with her fork. "Guess you could call it love at first sight… 's surprisingly easy t'do it with a bullet wound in yer shoulder, turns out."  
Boone coughed. "Save me the details."  
"Will do. Anyway, yeah, that's sort of how we met… we went into town once, and they thought he was my older brother or somethin'…" she laughed through her sentence. "Ah yeah, he was a good eleven years older than I was, but that never bothered me. He looked 23 even though he was 28 at the time, and he was a fine man. Hadn't had the easiest growin' up either… sister murdered by raiders, dad shot in the head, leavin' 'em with permanent brain damage.. Couldn't remember his own son, and when he did ya'd wish he never had." She sighed softly and averted her gaze to the water for a moment. "He was… very, clingy. Always scared that somethin' would happen t'me, that I'd walk away, that'd he'd lose me… he was so afraid… Held me every night, whisperin' the sweetest things, always kissin' and coddlin' me. He wasn't perfect, far from in fact, but still… he was my husband."

Boone looked up when she burst into a laughing fit, the back of her hand covering her mouth. "Ya should've seen his face when he proposed t'me! He was kneelin' in front of me - … and, he was… naked, but that's not the point – and I told him I was only 17 and couldn't marry yet." She laughed even louder at the memory of her husband's priceless expression. "He was so pissed!"

Boone was remembered of his own proposal to Carla, on the exact spot where they'd met on the Strip. He almost smiled before he was reminded of where he was, and why he was even there in the first place. He shook it off and continued listening, taking another bite from his meal.

"There wasn't even anythin' of a real law, but it's tradition, y'know?" she giggled a bit after, staring at her food again, quieting down. "But t'be fair… I don't miss 'im anymore… Just feels real good t'talk about him, since I never got to say goodbye.. And maybe, juuust maybe, killing Caesar will put my memory of him to rest."

Boone nodded at her. "We've come a long way." He said, putting the empty bowl beside him. "The son of a bitch will know what he did."

"Won't know what's comin' for him."

"That's what the scope's for." He said, looking up at her for a moment. She was eating her meal in silence again, and he diverted his attention to Rex, who was still growling at him.  
"Why does he always do that?" he asked, frowning.

"He's got somethin' against hats and the people wearin' 'em, I don't know." She laughed. "Oh and, Boone?"

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you really leave the army? 'cause I ain't buyin' the bullshit reason 'it was time to go'."


	12. Sleepless

_A/N: Oh my God. Sorry this is so ridiculously late, I'd really taken a break from writing and drawing for a little while, just doing nothing during my Christmas holiday. Anyway, this here's my late little christmas present to all of you. c: Happy New Year guys, may it be a good one. :)_

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* * *

Tuesday September 7th, 2281 – 17:29, Cottonwood Cove_

"Manny told me you were at Bitter Springs, I'm guessin' that's what made you wanna leave. Shit's been all over the radio, I wanna know what happened."  
Boone's jaw was clenched, staring at her as he tried to find the appropriate words to say – or none at all, a preferable alternative to the painful silence that had been occupying the two for over a minute now. He chose for the first, however, his brain yelling at him that it'd only be fair in comparison to _everything_ she had told him.

"There was a… miscommunication." He said, folding his arms over his chest, as if he tried to defend himself from whatever she'd say next.

"A miscommunication is when I accidentally give Robyn Nuka-Cola instead of Sunset. What happened at Bitter Springs was a complete and utter massacre." She replied, leaning forward, elbow resting on her knee.

"… Yeah. I guess that'd be the word." He sighed. "We did what we were there to do. Lot of people got killed. That's war. Maybe looking back, you'd do things differently, but that's not how it works. In the field, you hesitate, you or someone you care about will die. They teach that from day one."

"Doesn't mean ya have to believe in it, or stand for it. I sure as hell don't, and you don't seem to either. Got some regrets, don't ya?"

".. You don't come out of a tour of duty without regrets. It's best to just not think about it."

"That ain't exactly what you've been doin', is it? I keep watch every night, y'stir in yer sleep a lot. Think of Bitter Springs a lot?"

"Yeah, always. Even… when I sleep."

"Figures. Maybe we should stop by there on our next visit to New Vegas, maybe it'll help."

"I don't think so." He replied bitterly. "It won't change anything, and that's a memory I don't want refreshed."  
Martin heaved a heavy sigh and shut up, finishing her meal as well and putting down the bowl next to the fire. Sun was starting to set, a tender orange glow enlightening the river in front of them. The rosy silence of dawn came down upon the surrounding hills, not even a crow flapping its wings to be heard.

He heard Martin get up and stretch, Rex getting up with her.

"I'm going to bed." She said. "You should, too. We're getting up at sunrise."

"Not tired. I'm keepin' watch tonight."

"You need to rest."

"I'll be fine."  
He heard her sigh and crawl into the tent, muttering a 'yeah you will'. As he sat there for another couple of minutes, listening to her breathing. It kept slowing down until it was so soft and slow he could barely keep track of it at all. He knew she'd been right. In his eyes, mercy killing was a last resort, and he'd never stood for it that he'd had to shoot his brothers-in-arms when there had been a chance of saving them.  
Behind him, Martin turned over, sighed and went back to sleep. In his entire life there had only been one mercy killing that he had made of his own accord, and he wondered for a second if maybe she would've done the same to her husband had she had the chance. Slaves were kept at gunpoint day and night, and her husband must've known there was no escape. He chose his own mercy.  
Boone's gaze found her sniper rifle that gently reflected flickers of red and orange glow, coming from the still burning, warm fire next to him. He had been around her for long enough to know that even if she'd had the chance, she would've used every single bullet in her magazine to take out the legions around her husband in an attempt to save him. Mercy killing wasn't in her nature at all. The woman would rather go Armageddon on the entire raid than kill her husband to spare him the life as a legion slave.  
Behind him he heard her turn again and yawn softly, then silence safe for the crackling of the fire next to him. It occurred to him that the only reason she kept watch every night was probably because she had troubles falling asleep a lot. Now that he thought of it, she had always been up before him, making a simple breakfast for all three of them. He wouldn't say that she 'took care' of him, but maybe it was just in his companion's nature as much as it was in his that he had her back all the time.  
Sun had set a while ago, darkness shrouding the hills around them, leaving the Colorado river shimmering in the moonlight.

_''__Son of a bitch…''_

He looked over his shoulder and saw her turn over for yet another time, trying to force herself to sleep. Maybe now that she had found an answer and a 'reason' for her husband's death, assaulting the Fort seemed like a useless and excessively dangerous effort on her part. Maybe it wasn't necessary anymore, and maybe she could just go back to Goodsprings and take care of her kid. He wasn't about to back out of the plan, but he felt something twist in his stomach at the thought that she might. As much as he would charge at that fortress without remorse, he wouldn't be able to take out more than one or two groups of legionaries on his own before getting caught and crucified. With Martin and Rex by his side, he- no… _they_ would stand a chance against all of them. And maybe it would be easier for him to go back to Bitter Springs with a companion by his side as well.

_

* * *

One centaur… two centaurs… three cent- That's not fucking peaceful at all. One Brahmin, two Brahmin, three Brahmin__, four- That ain't helpin' much either. Boones. That'll do. One Boone, two Boones, three Boones… No, no. No, that way I'll have an entire army of Boones commenting on my aim fifteen times a day. Fuck, I can't sleep._

Martin turned over for a hundredth time that night, trying to hold back a massive yawn. Worry poked every nerve in her body awake every time she would fall asleep. Tomorrow's assault could easily be her last one, as well as Boone's. She would've felt a lot more guilty for dragging him into her own shitty quarrels with the Legion hadn't it been for the fact he almost seemed _enthusiastic_ – in his own special way. Aside from the fact that they had massacred Cottonwood Cove without all too many problems, assaulting their military base was going to be a much bigger shit storm of a battle. Maybe they could wait, maybe they could take care of their business in Vegas first, avoid the Fort for a little while longer… In the back of her head, she knew damn well that even if she backed out of the plan now, Boone would attack the Fort on his own and get himself killed on a useless suicide mission.  
She rolled on her back, staring at the tent fabric as her thoughts wandered off to far away places, times long ago, nostalgic feelings wrapping around her heart. Knowing damn well that none of it would ever come back, she decided that maybe it was for the better that her husband hadn't made it to the Fort to begin with, that he'd suffered a quick death and that he would never have to deal with such pain ever again.

A melancholic smile on her face, she got up again and sat down next to Boone, the fire still hot and burning, warming her body.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, looking at her for no more than a mere moment.

"Naw… Just a lil' nervous. I mean, if we don't make it tomorrow all this shit'll be for nothin'.. Don't get me wrong, any legion I kill 's a good kill, but that don't mean it'll be of use to anyone else, y'know?"

Boone stared at the raft by the bridge, a trip that they would most likely not return from. "We take that boat, it'll probably be the last one we ever take, but I'm ready for that." To Martin's surprise, he cocked his rifle and looked at her. "Are you?"  
Martin looked at her own rifle, then back at him. "Wha- right now? But I thought we were goin' tomo-"

"They'll be expecting that."

"This doesn't make any sense!"

"That's the point."

For a second, she meant to see a smile on his face, a quick exchange of hope, maybe. Hesitating for just a moment, Martin whistled Rex awake and grabbed her rifle. Checking it's state and ensuring there wouldn't be any blockages on the way, she slung it on her back. A grin plastered on her face she kicked dirt over the fire, extinguishing it effectively.

Rex scurried on behind them as they walked over the bridge towards the boat – or rather, raft. Rex seemed a little reluctant to get on, the surrounding water being hardly any reassurance that his robotic parts could be repaired later on. After having been fed a small piece of molerat, Rex seemed to mind it a lot less – as long as Martin kept coming with the molerat meat.

Martin looked around the raft and to the bridge, then frowned. "Well as much as I'd like to leave now, there ain't no goddamn oars to row the raft." She said as she scratched behind her ear. "And there's just no way in hell I'm gonna use my rifle." She looked to Boone, who stood bent forward over the bridge, one foot against it as his arms extended forward, trying to break off one of the many wooden boards. She hopped off of the raft and stood on the other side of the bridge, helping him get it loose. After a lot of tugging, pulling and splinters in their hands, they finally got the damn thing loose, making the second a lot easier to break off.

They were on their way not much later, surrounded by the Colorado cliffs and quiet splashing of their makeshift oars in the water. Rex lay in the middle of the raft, ears flat against his head as he tried to move as little as possible. Martin and Boone stood at one side, rowing one by one in silence, both occupied by either their own thoughts or trying not to hit a rock in the river.

It took them less than half an hour before they saw the Fort's silhouette loom up on the cliff above them. Martin let go of a breath she had no idea of she'd been holding, fingers tightening around her board.

"Well, shit's really gonna hit the fan now."


End file.
